Camp Kilpatrick

Camp Kilpatrick, the Malibu-based juvenile detention facility that inspired the 2006 movie "Gridiron Gang," is suspending its one-of-a-kind high school sports program effective in January, said Jerry Powers, chief of the Los Angeles County Probation Department. The camp that can house as many as 110 juvenile inmates is being relocated during a three-year construction project. Football Coach Derek Ayers said his team will have one final season this fall competing in the CIF Southern Section.

Los Angeles County officials took steps Tuesday to speed up a $48-million plan to rebuild and modernize one of the county's probation camps for young offenders. Camp Kilpatrick, an aging 125-bed facility for juvenile offenders in Malibu, is slated to be torn down and reconstructed under a new design that probation officials said would allow them to implement a new "small group treatment" model. "I think when it's finished, Los Angeles will have a state-of-the-art facility, and people will be coming from across the nation to see how to do it right," said probation department Assistant Chief Don Meyer, who oversees the county's 13 probation camps and three juvenile halls.

Although the team is playing its first season of 11-man football, Camp Kilpatrick is no longer a secret, and neither are running backs Michael Black and Bobby Wilson. In attendance at Saturday night's Southern Section Division X semifinal playoff game were coaches from Montclair Prep, which Camp Kilpatrick will face in the final on Friday.

The Mustangs will take to the field for the final time this fall. The sports program at the Kilpatrick juvenile detention center is being disbanded - "suspended," officials call it - so the 50-year-old facility in the Malibu Hills can be leveled and rebuilt. The remake has been in the works for years; it's one of the oldest, most decrepit of the county's 14 rural juvenile camps, with a gym yellow-tagged since the Northridge earthquake and a pitted, patchy playing field. But it is also the only camp with a sports program , one that made a national name for itself six years ago in the movie "Gridiron Gang.

The Camp Kilpatrick football coach likes to tell his players that sports are a microcosm of life, that teamwork begets success. . . . about the importance of structure, execution and playing by the rules. The coach also says the world is like a series of trap plays, wherein suckers go for the easy bait and only the real dummies bite the second time around. If they get a second chance. "Sports are indicative of society," says Coach Sean Porter, an L. A. County probation officer.

Los Angeles County officials took steps Tuesday to speed up a $48-million plan to rebuild and modernize one of the county's probation camps for young offenders. Camp Kilpatrick, an aging 125-bed facility for juvenile offenders in Malibu, is slated to be torn down and reconstructed under a new design that probation officials said would allow them to implement a new "small group treatment" model. "I think when it's finished, Los Angeles will have a state-of-the-art facility, and people will be coming from across the nation to see how to do it right," said probation department Assistant Chief Don Meyer, who oversees the county's 13 probation camps and three juvenile halls.

Linfield 34, Camp Kilpatrick 27--Linfield made a dramatic comeback when Richard Hunter hit Eddie Parsons for a nine-yard touchdown and Hunter ran for a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to give the Lions (5-1, 1-0) a win at Newbury Park High. For Camp Kilpatrick (2-3-1, 0-1), running back Herbert Rush ran seven times for 65 yards, scoring one touchdown and throwing another on an option pass.

Keilon Fortune looks you in the eye and shakes your hand vigorously. Like most people, he's got a story to tell. As he gets comfortable on a well-worn sofa, he looks like any other teenager, wearing a black jacket, white T-shirt and loose-fitting khakis. But the hardscrabble details of his life separate him from others his age. He sleeps on the bottom of a bunk bed, arising every day at 6:45 a.m. He is allowed to make only two phones calls a month, on the average.

It might be considered the sports equivalent of settling for the girl with the "nice personality" after you've been dumped by the homecoming queen. But for the Mustangs of Malibu's Camp Kilpatrick, the Sportsmanship Award it received is a fitting testament to a basketball season whose success is not measured only by games won and lost. Kilpatrick is the Los Angeles County probation camp whose football program was immortalized in the 2006 movie "Gridiron Gang." Its basketball team had a stab at glory this month, when it won the championship of the region's small schools division.

Camp Kilpatrick High's football program has been left in limbo by the recent loss of its league affiliation and the resignation of Coach Sean Porter. Porter resigned Thursday for personal reasons. The Freedom League, a football-only league that was formed last year, disbanded after the 1991 season because only two of six members planned to return to the league.

Camp Kilpatrick, the Malibu-based juvenile detention facility that inspired the 2006 movie "Gridiron Gang," is suspending its one-of-a-kind high school sports program effective in January, said Jerry Powers, chief of the Los Angeles County Probation Department. The camp that can house as many as 110 juvenile inmates is being relocated during a three-year construction project. Football Coach Derek Ayers said his team will have one final season this fall competing in the CIF Southern Section.

It might be considered the sports equivalent of settling for the girl with the "nice personality" after you've been dumped by the homecoming queen. But for the Mustangs of Malibu's Camp Kilpatrick, the Sportsmanship Award it received is a fitting testament to a basketball season whose success is not measured only by games won and lost. Kilpatrick is the Los Angeles County probation camp whose football program was immortalized in the 2006 movie "Gridiron Gang." Its basketball team had a stab at glory this month, when it won the championship of the region's small schools division.

Hollywood producers who didn't know the back story would have yawned and retired to their luxury cars by halftime. Camp Kilpatrick and the Brentwood School engaged in a season opener this month that seemed perfectly unremarkable. There were penalties galore and numerous sloppy plays typical of two high school football teams playing their first game.

Keilon Fortune looks you in the eye and shakes your hand vigorously. Like most people, he's got a story to tell. As he gets comfortable on a well-worn sofa, he looks like any other teenager, wearing a black jacket, white T-shirt and loose-fitting khakis. But the hardscrabble details of his life separate him from others his age. He sleeps on the bottom of a bunk bed, arising every day at 6:45 a.m. He is allowed to make only two phones calls a month, on the average.

Tucked into the lonesome canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains is Camp Kilpatrick, a maximum-security center for juvenile offenders where a Camarillo man is trying to turn lives around with football. Glenn Bell is head football coach at Camp Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County facility in Malibu where boys age 12 to 18 are sent for crimes ranging from joy-riding to carrying guns. The inmates, wearing blue pants and white T-shirts, march in formation to classes and work details.

Camp Kilpatrick High's football program has been left in limbo by the recent loss of its league affiliation and the resignation of Coach Sean Porter. Porter resigned Thursday for personal reasons. The Freedom League, a football-only league that was formed last year, disbanded after the 1991 season because only two of six members planned to return to the league.

Camp Kilpatrick football Coach Sean Porter said Thursday that his team will meet Montclair Prep on Oct. 10 in a rematch of teams that played for last season's Southern Section Division X title. Camp Kilpatrick, which dropped a 13-7 decision to the Mounties and finished 9-4-1 last season, scheduled the game to fill a void in the fifth week of the season. The game will be played at Pierce College at 7:30 p.m.

Who needs 11 men on a side to play a great football game? Certainly not Faith Baptist and Camp Kilpatrick, the Nos. 2- and 3-ranked teams in the Southern Section Eight-Man Large Division. The two unbeaten teams tangled Saturday at Faith Baptist and waged a classic battle, replete with emotion, great plays, and a vocal crowd of about 300 cramped into tiny quarters. So who won? Why, undoubtedly, that would be Camp Kilpatrick, 41-30. After all, one had to like the squad that featured Super- . . .

Linfield 34, Camp Kilpatrick 27--Linfield made a dramatic comeback when Richard Hunter hit Eddie Parsons for a nine-yard touchdown and Hunter ran for a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to give the Lions (5-1, 1-0) a win at Newbury Park High. For Camp Kilpatrick (2-3-1, 0-1), running back Herbert Rush ran seven times for 65 yards, scoring one touchdown and throwing another on an option pass.

Each season, coaches strive for team unity, but Sean Porter, the football coach at Camp Kilpatrick, is presented with a unique challenge. Camp Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County school for juvenile offenders located in the hills near Malibu, has never had a returning player. Each year, Porter has to bring together his 30-plus players--a group of virtual strangers in an unfamiliar setting--and get them to trust and believe in each other. It is no small task.